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Background: Back in 2003 I started a Virtual Flying Club - it
always seemed to me that the title "President and Founder" was too
pretentious for my skill level. I made a dyslexic play on the words
and became known as the "Cub Flounder." In this column I host a
feature flight for you all to try on your own time. You never know
where we'll end up and this time we are ending up above the cruise
altitude of some planes you've probably flown in yourself. If you can
find add-ons they may add to your experience. Personally, I added
SA_AI05.ZIP
by my friend and fellow VA pilot Dick Graham.History: The first, main idea for this feature came years ago in an article on www.airliners.net entitled "The Meat Haulers of La Paz" about the pilots and crew who fly some old Douglas and Convair aircraft in and out of La Paz, Bolivia, hauling fresh meat back up the Andes from the fertile valleys below. That's not quite what we are doing here but I want you all to struggle with the elevations of these challenging airports. (Also read this How To article: "How To Land On Top Of The World".) Now, load up some dead chickens and get ready to fly!
Routing: Fire up the sim and pick an old Douglas or Convair
aircraft, maybe even a B-17? Go to Arequipa, Peru. Known as "The
White City," Arequipa rests in the foothills of the Andes, a mere
3,000 feet HIGHER than Denver, CO! Just like in the real world,
you'll depart to the west regardless of wind direction. Once you are
safely climbing, turn left back over the city (picture, left),
heading 057° for the VOR at Juliaca (115.50). Watch out for the
towering slopes of the Misti Volcano just east of town!
At the Juliaca VOR turn to 120° and strike out over Lake Titicaca
(picture below, left) heading for La Paz, Bolivia (picture below,
right). The VOR at SLLP is 115.70 and the airport is shown at about
13,300 feet. There are some scenic vistas from up here but depending
on what you are flying you may be struggling just to keep the engines
running. Maybe I was cheating because this time out I was flying an
old Russian Tu-18 and the performance seemed really good. I've
struggled in the past with some weaker radial engine planes.
The Flight: With my DME about 50 miles I noticed a small dirt runway (picture below, left) I've not seen before. A quick check of the map showed that I was over SLCC "Copacabana" and I decided then that I'd come back to check that out. But first, our crosswind landing in LaPaz! (you can see the sock and the slip angle in the bottom photo, right.)
It's hard enough to land a plane at over 13,000 feet, hard too to get her stopped before plowing into the city, today the task was complicated further by the winds out of 013° gusting to near 30 mph! Having flown various aircraft into here many times since FS98 I was able to land safely between the centerline and the right edge of pavement (picture below, left). I actually landed safely (and smoothly) about three times because my final approach speed (considering wind and altitude) was about 130 knots! Anyway...I taxied right over to the conveniently placed "House of Chicken" and off-loaded my cargo (pictures below, center and right).
Extra Credit: Next up, just for fun, I took a Dash-7 back to Copacabana (picture below, left; it's listed at 12,592 feet ASL by the way) and threw her down (picture below, center) on the mile-long dirt runway. I discovered that with the thin air up here full flaps will slow the Dash-7 to its stall speed so a little less flap and a little more "hang" on the prop might work for you.
Now, let's see how you do into these challenging, high-altitude airports!
Ron Blehm
pretendpilot@yahoo.com
